Kate writes:
ACK! Swistle, I’m so hoping you can help! I’m due to have a C section in TWO DAYS (like, Friday!) and my husband I still have NO idea what to name the baby! We’ve had a hard time with our previous kids but NOTHING like this…
Our names are Katharine Fay and Jakob Russell. We go by Kate and Jake.Fay and Russell are both family names. (my mom and grandmas mns are both Fay, same for J and his dad and grandpa, that sort of thing). Surname is Finchlee, a combo of the last names we came into the marriage with (we were lucky they were so combine-able–Kate Finch/Jake Lee became Kate&Jake Finchlee).
Our other kids are:
Wilhelmina Fay –9
Calista Rose –9 ——And they are called Willa and Calla. We think it’s matchy but not too matchy and Calla can always go by Callie if she wants.
Zachariah Russell–6 Theodore Scott–4 Philippa Darcy–2
so Kate, Jake, Willa, Calla, Zak, Ted, Pippa. Oh and our dogs are Icarus and Olympus.Anyway that gives you an idea of our style.
And first names–well, we are both pretty obsessive and we really like the pattern we have going. This is DEFINITELY our last child and we don’t want to name him Aidan or something that just doesn’t go with his brothers, who both have long formal names and short, kicky three letter NNs.
The trouble is we are having trouble finding a name…and then Jake’s best friend was killed in a car accident last week and now Jake wants to use his name. His name was Lachlan. J suggested Maclachlan which gives us Mac. I like Mac a lot–to me it feels a little similar to Zak and Ted–except of course it rhymes with Zak when said outloud. We’ve considered Isaac for the first name, Isaac Lachlan, which gives us Ike–but again, so close to Zak, and even closer to Jake. We are sort of thinking of Nathaniel Lachlan/Nat but…well, we live in New England. Gnats can be a problem!So that takes care of that. We don’t want to repeat an initial, BTW.
Ugh. As you can see, we are really and truly stuck. Also, what do you think about naming the kid after Jake’s friend? I THINK it’s OK, but the other kids all have family MNs and I’m a bit worried. OTOH, we’ve covered everyone we wanted to cover, both parents, my sister–except Jake’s brother, Jesse Nolan.Oh and of course Max would be great, despite the common-ness of it we both like it a lot– but my sister Darcy had a baby girl right before I found out I was pregnant and named her Maxine Katharine (after me, yay!) and we see Darcy and her family all the time as we live 15 mins from them. Having a Maxine and a Max is just too close, especially for cousins that are only about a year apart.
So–help! We kept thinking we’d come up with SOMETHING but so far…nothing. Nada. Not a thing.
(Oh–the other kids have suggestions, naturally, but they are currently along the lines of: Harry, Neville, Albus, Severus–guess which books the twins have been reading–or Wilbur and Orville, a current obsession–in desperation I asked Pippa yesterday and she said Egg. While it’s certainly three letters it doesn’t QUITE match our style!)
Name update! Darcy writes:
This is Darcy, Kate’s baby sister. I am really pleased to announce that Kate had her baby yesterday. It’s a beautiful baby boy named…wait for it…
FERGUSON NOLAN
K&J wanted me to send out a special thank you to Swistle and her baby naming commenters (commentators?) who gave her the Ferguson idea, they really liked it and it turns out to have been J’s best friend’s (who was recently killed) middle name but it hadn;t occurred to them. They are calling the baby Gus and he is absurdly cute. Mom, dad, baby, and big sibs are all doing great, even though the twins pushed for Albus Severus til the very last second!
First off – I love Lachlan for you! I want to say “who cares!?” if it doesn’t have a 3 letter nickname, but obviously that’s important to you. But I still hope you use it!
Other suggestions:
Dominink (Dom), McLachlan (Mik/Mic instead of Mac), Elijah/Elias (Eli), Alexander (Lex), Joseph/Josiah (Joe)
And I like Nolan for the middle name!
Good luck!
Does it have to be 3 letters, or just one syllable? For ex: Will, Zeke, Nate, Nick, Rick, Gabe, Drew, Fred, Jeff, Bert, Bart?
Others that are 3 letters:
Sam
Mal (Malcolm)
Joe
Gus (August)
Dex
Lex (Alexander)
Ben
Tom
Ray
Kip
Ken
Abe
Lou
Hal
My favorites are Gabe, Drew, Sam, Mal or Ray.
Ooooh Jen’s suggestion of Kip made me think of the name Kiptyn.
I like the suggestion of Kip. Kipling (author of The Jungle Book). Kipling Lachlan Finchlee. Kip Finchlee. Love Kip! But it doesn’t work with my last name.
August, Augusten, etc. with nn Gus is another good one for your family of names.
Hmm. Really, I don’t think you need to look past Kipling :)
You could do Nolan Lachlan … but I’m not sure I like those together.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about the Nat/gnat thing. It’s sort of like worrying about Matt/mat or Tom/tom cat.
I love your naming style! And I think Lachlan would be a lovely tribute to your friend.
Here are several thoughts to chew on…
Christopher, nn Kit: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Kit; Christopher Lachlan.
August/Augustine/Augustus, nn Gus: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Gus; Augustus Lachlan.
Benjamin, nn Ben: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Ben; Benjamin Lachlan.
Cameron, nn Cam: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Cam; Cameron Lachlan.
Desmond, nn Des: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Des. Desmond Lachlan.
Donovan, nn Van: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Van; Donovan Lachlan.
Abraham, nn Abe: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Abe; Abraham Lachlan.
Jonathan, nn Jon: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Jon; Jonathan Lachlan.
Leopold, nn Leo: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Leo; Leopold Lachlan.
Sebastian, nn Bas: Willa, Calla, Pippa, Zak, Ted, and Bas; Sebastian Jesse.
Good luck and congratulations!
I stared at this post for a while, completely stumped, only to think “Gus!” Happily, a few others have already mentioned it, which I think is a sign that it’s a pretty good fit.
I also like Adey’s suggestion of Dominic. If you don’t like Dom so much as a nickname, I knew a Dominic in school who always went by Nic. Perhaps the soft I would be different enough to not sound too much like Zak and Jake.
Using Lachlan as a middle name is a lovely touch. My condolences to the family on the loss.
I love Lachlan for you!! Lock for a NN is SO COOL. I also wonder if you would like Truman, NN Tru?? I adore your naming style….let us know what you name the little guy. Good luck with the C Section!
I like the name Augustine, but I don’t love Augustine Lachlan. Augustus Lachlan sounds good, though and I think Gus is an *adorable* nickname for a baby and a perfectly suitable nn for an adult. Gus Finchlee. Augustus Lachlan Finchlee. I think Egg is super cute, too. Good luck!
Love love love the names of your children and second lifeofadoctorswife’s suggestions of Leo, Bas and Gus, plus Adey’s suggestion of Mik/Mic.
Good luck!
Augustus (Gus), Leopold (Leo, and Desmond (Des) are my favorite of the previous suggestions.
Other suggestions:
Asher (Ash)
Barnaby (could maybe be Abe?)
Edmund (Ned)
Solomon (Sol)
Also, Neville (Nev) and Wilbur (Wil) are possibly not THAT bad from your children’s suggestions.
Also, I think it is fine to use the name of a family friend as a middle name when the rest of your children have family names. The name is still really meaningful to your family and I think that’s the important part.
We have a Nathaniel that we refer to as “Nate” as well as a Zachary who is “Zach”–however, everyone wants to call Nate “Nathan” which I hate–HATE–the name Nathan when obviously he is a Nate…not really helping but just wanted to point out that while we LOVE Nathaniel as a name, for some reason stupid people can’t figure out his correct NN.
Oh, and I Love Lachlan–Mac–etc. as well as Gabe which doesn’t fit in your 3 letter pattern–and Tobin, which is Toby and If I had another boy I may seriously consider. Cheers!
I like Nathaniel Lachlan for you. Gnats are everywhere, and still parents choose the name Nathaniel because–I’m guessing–most aren’t concerned about that. So many names have something else that sounds like them. Nathaniel seems an excellent name for a boy born in New England, and Lachlan has special meaning for you. Zak, Ted, and Nat sound great together!
I really like Nathaniel Lachlan. Benjamin and Marcus also came to mind. Nathaniel can also go by “Nate” which is a little less gnatty.
Best wishes! I LOVE your children’s names by the way. Adorable!
I am having trouble getting to the question because I keep pausing to thnk about how much I LOVE Willa, Calla and Pippa as sister names. Oh my goodness. I am swooning, over here.
Ahem.
I looked at the BNW nickname section and saw Des, which I remember from a friend in HS. Very nice–Desmond, Des. or Dexter, Dex. Sebastian, Seb/Bas/z. Augustus/Gustave, Gus. Or maybe Jesse Lachlan, Jay? That takes care of your DHs brother…oh wait, you don’t want repeating initials. Kip is ADORABLE, I don’t know if you’d want to use Christopher because you have Calla…but maybe since he’d go by Kip?
Also I think Nolan and Lachlan sound really good together. You could consider two MNs, ___ Nolan Lachlan Finchlee or ___ Lachlan Nolan.
Ooh, another Pippa! We have a 6-year-old one and enjoyed watching the royal wedding this morning and getting slightly giddy every time we heard her name :) All of your kids have fabulous names!
As for your new little man (who may well be born and named already!) I was going to suggest Gus, a long-time favorite of mine that hubby has never quite gotten on board with in any form, but I see that several have already mentioned it. We’ve looked at it from every angle, so here are all the full versions as I see them: Angus, Fergus, Ferguson, August/us/ine, Magnus, Gustaf/Gustavo. I think my current fave is Augustus – so regal!
Aside from that, I really do like Lachlan a lot for you – why not Loc/Lok for a nn?
Can’t wait to hear what you go with!
Count me with the pro-Lachlan contingent. I love it! First or middle, either way. Good luck!!
Ooh! Kipling Lachlan Finchlee!
LOVE your naming style, by the way!
I think Mac and Zak are too similar. Love Lachlan and think it fits right in. Lachlan Jesse? Lachlan Nolan? Both sound great to me. I do have to put a vote in for Gus though. So cute!
I think Nathaniel Lachlan is a great name for you, and if you loosen the 3-letter requirement to a one syllable requirement, he could be Nate, which would fit in your family. Or Lachlan Jesse is another good combo if you’d like to keep a family name in the middle slot.
I liked the suggestions of Abe (if it was for Abraham, Bram is another possible nickname), Ben, Drew, Gus, Sam (could be for Samuel or Samson) or Tom.
Or how about Gabriel (Gabe), Joshua (Josh or Joss), Mateo (Teo) or Nicholas (Nic, Nick or Nico).
Just putting another vote in for August/Augustus Lachlan. Gus or Auggie would be so cute!
so many great suggestions! I say go with a one syllable nickname regardless of letters. It’ll sound kicky like the others and give you looser parameters!
I love Abe for Abraham, or Barnes for Barnaby or Barnabas. What about Tom for Thomas? Too matchy with Ted? You mentioned Cosby…what about Cliff? (Clifford or HEATHCLIFF of course!) I loved the suggestion of Joe! What about Al? Lots of options there. And if your kids like HP, what about Cedric? Ced is a great nickname!
Okay, I’m done! Can’t wait to hear what y’all decide! I love big families (especially with fun, beautiful names).
Asking your kids doesn’t always go well does it? We asked our 3 year old what he wanted to name his pet goat and were told “Dinner”. :o)
I’m giving a further vote to Sebastian (Bas).
Alternatively, how about Edwin nn Win?
How about McCallum and call him Mac?
Ferguson Nolan is so handsome! Congratulations!!! Gus goes perfectly with his siblings’ names, and it’s wonderful that both names are such touching tributes both friends and family.